THE GOD WHO HEALED YETUNDE ODETOYINBO

In 2001, out of the blue, Yetunde Odetoyinbo discovered lumps in her right breast. The lumps were removed at Unity Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos. Samples were then sent to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) for analysis. Another sample was sent to a major hospital in Germany.

The results from the Nigerian hospitals confirmed the lumps were malignant. A doctor at LUTH confronted Yetunde with the bad news. He did not beat about the bush. “You have cancer,” he declared solemnly. Instinctively, Yetunde replied in her mind: “I reject that.”

So began for her a journey to hell and back.

Prepare for war

The doctor prepared her for the battle ahead. While the result from Germany was still being awaited, she would start fighting the disease with chemotherapy. Psychologists would also be engaged to prepare her mentally.

Yetunde wept and groaned before the Lord. She kept telling herself: “It just can’t end like this. I know the plans of God for me.”

She envied everyone their good health. Her relations kept staring at her, as if they were taking mental photographs to remember her by when she was gone. She hated it when they whispered to one another, making sure she could not hear what they were saying.

The report from Germany confirmed the Nigerian ones. The lumps in Yetunde’s breast were cancerous. Her “guardian” quickly sprang into action. He gave her three days’ notice to fly to Germany for treatment.

But before she left, the prophecy of a member of the Redeemed Church struck a deep cord in her. He declared that she would go to Germany and come back to testify to the goodness of the Lord. Yetunde held on so firmly to this word of faith, she surprised everyone by going to play golf with her boyfriend on the eve of her departure.

However, a dark cloud had descended on everyone else. When her “guardian” bought her a business-class flight-ticket instead of the usual economy, she knew he was not expecting her to return alive.

The German adventure

In Bremen, Germany, she stayed with one Berndt Feuker, a gynaecologist family-friend. He told her only God can heal. When he inspected the incision made for her lumpectomy in Nigeria, he was furious. “Which butcher did you get to do this?” he exclaimed.

Upon examination, the doctor in Bremen, Professor Uni, said the nature of the cancer required a mastectomy; the removal of her entire right breast. She would then undergo chemotherapy designed to destroy any cancer cells that might have spread to other parts of her body.

Yetunde disregarded this diagnosis. She kept asking the Lord for a sign that he would heal her, and it was not long in coming.

A visiting-doctor suddenly suggested that more tests should be conducted; going against Professor Uni’s expert opinion. After a heated debate, the professor finally relented. He informed Yetunde that since there was a cautionary counsel, further tests would be conducted before the mastectomy. But he warned it would be needlessly time-consuming and entail additional costs.

Accordingly, she had to undergo a painful mammogram whereby her affected breast was clamped in a vice and x-rayed. The result was confusing. Surprisingly; inexplicably; no trace of cancer could be found. The procedure was repeated; this time some green stuff was injected into her so the x-ray would have greater clarity. The result remained the same; it was all clear. Nevertheless, the lymph-nodes in her breast were surgically removed.

She was discharged to go home and await the official verdict. But at that point, Yetunde was no longer awaiting any results. As far as she was concerned, “the walls of Jericho had fallen down flat.”

A cancer-free analysis

Some days later, she was brought before her doctors again. The surgeon who removed her lymph-nodes asked her what result she was expecting. Yetunde did not answer. But she knew it had to be good news. The surgeon observed that she had examined the first and second layers of her breast and was surprised to find that every trace of cancer had disappeared. Nevertheless, she had removed her lymph-nodes; just to be on the safe side.

Professor Uni advised that she should still undergo radiotherapy in spite of the positive result. However, he admitted he would have made the greatest mistake of his medical career by removing her breast. Therefore, he made all her treatment free-of-charge; except for the surgery.